The present invention relates to a coupling detector for a connector for detecting whether the connector to be employed for electric connection of wire harnesses etc. installed in motor vehicles are properly coupled or not.
Especially in the connector to be employed in a wiring system for an air bag or the like in a motor vehicle, for example, it is necessary to strictly check whether the connector has been completely coupled or not.
For this purpose, there have been conventionally proposed various types of connectors, such as a connector in which coupling can be mechanically detected from a state of movement of a slider, a connector in which coupling can be electrically detected, and a connector provided with these two functions.
Among them, the connector as described below has been known as the connector of the type in which coupling can be electrically detected.
In FIG. 21, a connector 101 capable of electrically detecting the coupling includes a male connector 102 and a female connector 103. The male connector 102 has a male connector housing 104 made of synthetic resin, a pair of female terminals 105 (only one is shown in the drawing), and a short-circuiting metal piece 106 adapted to short-circuit the pair of the female terminals 105. There is formed inside the male connector housing 104, a chamber 107 for the pair of the female terminals 105 and the short-circuiting metal piece 106. There is also formed outside the male connector housing 104, a locking arm 109 having a locking projection 108. Electric wires 110 are press-fitted to the female terminals 105, and the short-circuiting metal piece 106 is formed with an elastic arm 111.
The female connector 103 has a female connector housing 112, a pair of male terminals 113 (see FIG. 22). There are formed inside the female connector housing 112, a chamber 114 for the pair of the male terminals 113, and a connector engaging room 116 for the male connector 102. There are formed in the connector engaging room 115, a partition wall 116 existing between the pair of the male terminals 113, an insulating piece 117 integrally formed with the partition wall 116, and a locking hole 118 for engagement with the above described locking projection 108. The insulating piece 117 is formed so as to correspond to a contact position between the female terminals 105 and the elastic arm 111 of the male connector 102. The male terminals 113 are arranged in such a manner that their distal ends may project into the connector engaging room 115. Electric wires 119 are press-fitted to backward ends of the male terminals 113.
In an initial state of the coupling as shown in FIG. 23, the elastic arm 111 is in contact with the female terminals 105 of the male connector 102 (see FIG. 21) to establish a short circuit between the female terminals 105. When the female connector 103 is moved from this state in a direction of an arrow to initiate the coupling, the male terminals 113 are inserted into the female terminals 105 as shown in FIG. 24, and at the same time, the insulating piece 117 slides along contact faces of the female terminals 105 with respect to the elastic arm 111 (a state on the way of the coupling). Then, as shown in FIG. 25, as the female connector 103 further continues to move and the coupling of the connector 101 has been completed, the insulating piece 117 pushes up the elastic arm 111 to cancel the short circuit between the female terminals 105, needless to say that the electrical connection between the male terminals 113 and the female terminals 105 has been completed.
Therefore, by electrically detecting that the short circuit has been canceled, the state of the coupling in the connector 101 can be confirmed.
By the way, in the above described configuration, there has been such a problem that when the male connector 102 and the female connector 103 are coupled, the insulating piece 117 may be deformed or broken by diagonal or forcible insertion. Cancellation of the short circuit may not be reliably conducted, resulting in damage in reliability of electrical detection of the coupling.
It is therefore an object of the invention is to provide a coupling detector for a connector in which cancellation of a short circuit can be reliably conducted, and reliability of electrical detection of the coupling can be enhanced.
In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a coupling detector for electrically detecting whether a first connector and a second connector are plenarily coupled with each other, comprising:
a conductive member provided in the first connector together with a plurality of terminal fittings, the conductive member including elastic arms associated with the respective terminal fittings, each elastic arm being divided into a first conductive piece and a second conductive piece which are moved together, the first conductive piece brought into contact with the terminal fitting when the first connector and the second connector are disengaged, the second conductive piece being away from the terminal fitting when the first connector and the second connector are disengaged; and
insulative members provided in the second connector so as to be associated with the respective elastic arms, each insulative member including a first insulative piece and a second insulative piece, the first insulative piece inserted between the terminal fitting and the first conductive piece when the first connector and the second connector are engaged, the second insulative piece moving the second conductive piece in a direction away from the terminal fitting when the first connector and the second connector are engaged.
In this coupling detector, even though one of the first and the second insulative pieces is deformed or broken, the other one acts on the associated conductive piece to cancel the short circuit.
Therefore, the short circuit can be reliably canceled so that reliability of electrical detection of the coupling is enhanced.